SportsPulse: This will likely go down as the worst officiated championship weekend ever. But if you are a fan of chaos and pure insane entertainment it was incredible. Trysta Krick breaks down how the Patriots and Rams punched their ticket to the Super Bowl.USA TODAY

Super Bowl LIII could be the first major sporting event in more than two decades held during a government shutdown, although federal officials told USA TODAY Sports that those attending the game or the events surrounding it shouldn’t worry any more than the first 52 games that were played with a fully employed government.

This year’s Super Bowl, scheduled for Feb. 3 between the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots, is a SEAR 1 event, the federal government’s second-highest security classification. The State of the Union address, categorized at the highest level (NSSE), is scheduled for Jan. 29, although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested to President Trump last week that it be postponed because of security concerns surrounding the shutdown.

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host its first Super Bowl when the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots meet in Atlanta on Feb. 3.(Photo: Danny Karnik, AP)

While not necessarily a terrorism target, a SEAR 1 event is of enough national or international importance to require federal support and equipment, as well as cooperation and coordination between federal, state and local authorities.

“The Department (of Homeland Security) takes the security of special events like the Super Bowl extremely seriously, and we continue executing our protection responsibility and supporting our local public safety partners for this event,” DHS spokesperson Tyler Q. Houlton said in a statement last week. “The current lapse in government funding will have no effect on our commitment to assuring a safe and secure event.”

More than 1,500 public safety personnel are involved in Super Bowl security, Rowson said, though it’s not clear how many of those are federal agents and officials. (None of the FBI agents are currently being paid.) Or how many will be working the Super Bowl without pay if the shutdown has not been resolved.

The Secret Service, FBI, TSA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection are among the federal agencies charged with working with local law enforcement and private security to secure the Super Bowl and many of the surrounding events/

“The federal agencies involved – HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) , FBI, ICE and CPB – are essential and will be working as usual, but many aren’t going to be getting paid,” said John Torres, CEO of the security consulting company Guidepost Solutions and a former HSI agent. “They’ll still do their jobs whether they are paid or not.”

Security consultant Aloke S. Chakravarty told USA TODAY Sports that federal law enforcement officials who have’t gotten paid as the shutdown drags on “are professionals who don’t do their jobs for money, but their families are impacted like anyone else’s would be.”

“You could … see a drop off in efficiency,” said Chakravarty, a former federal prosecutor who worked the Boston Marathon bombing case and is currently a partner at Snell & Wilmer. “While agents at the FBI, Secret Service and other agencies will be working because (Super Bowl security) was already budgeted, the people who support them, like analysts, could be furloughed. Analysts may not be at their terminals because of the shutdown.”

Rowson and Atlanta Police Department spokesman Carlos Campos said the shutdown will not impact security. Federal, state and local officials have been planning for the Super Bowl for two years, and are fully prepared.

“An event like (the) Super Bowl is all about planning, preparation and partnerships,” Rowson said in an email.

“We want to assure the public that we have planned for this to ensure that nothing happens,” Rowson added. “But if something does happen, we are ready, and prepared to transition into crisis response and investigation.”

That means most of the federal employees working the Super Bowl will be doing it without pay if the shutdown is ongoing. DHS is one of the nine departments that is unfunded but workers who are considered “essential” are still expected to do their jobs.

The Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, 1996 was the last major sporting event held during a shutdown. The federal government was closed for 21 days as President Bill Clinton and Congress sparred over the budget. Nebraska won the game to claim the national title.

While four World Series (1977, 1978, 1979 and 1986) overlapped with prior shutdowns, the 1978 World Series (Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Yankees) was the only one that came during a lengthy standoff (18 days).

Sens. Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders are scheduled to be back-to-back speakers at the state capital’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

COLUMBIA, S.C.— When Sens. Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders make their first early primary state appearances of 2019 on Monday, the location won’t be by chance.

As the first Southern state to vote in 2020 — and, more important, the first state where African-Americans will cast a majority of the primary vote — South Carolina looms as a crucible for both potential presidential candidates. Each has something to prove here, though for entirely different reasons.

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For Booker, the state presents an opportunity for an early show of strength next year with the Democratic Party’s most loyal bloc of voters. As one of the few African-American candidates likely to run, he’ll have a moment to break out of the crowded field after voting takes place in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire.

For Sanders, it’s an opening to move beyond his dismal 2016 performance with black voters here, when he won only 26 percent of the total vote in the primary against Hillary Clinton and exposed a weakness that was repeated across the South.

“Why is South Carolina important?” said Jaime Harrison, a former chair of the state Democratic Party. “It’s important because it’s the first state that these candidates will get an opportunity to vet their message with a population that reflects the heart of the Democratic Party, which is African-Americans and specifically African-American women.”

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Booker and Sanders are scheduled to be back-to-back speakers at the state capital’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally. But Booker has been branded as the main attraction at the event, an indication of his popularity in the state — local Democratic leaders say the grassroots is excited to hear him speak. Both senators will also attend a prayer service and march to the statehouse.

A 60-second promotional radio ad features sound bites of Booker delivering a fiery address. The narrator mentions him by name three times, and the spot says Booker will bring “his message of hope” to Columbia.

Representatives from the South Carolina NAACP said they invited Booker to attend the rally because of his education advocacy. He has a long record of supporting charter schools, which has put him at odds with some in the party — Sanders himself has criticized “privately controlled” charters. The theme of this year’s event is “Education First: Illuminating the Path to Change.”

The nonpartisan group also extended invitations to South Carolina Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott. Graham’s office didn’t respond, according to the state NAACP, and Scott was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.

Sanders‘ appearance is a sign of his determination to make his second run different than his first and a recognition of the challenges ahead. When Sanders visited South Carolina in October of last year, some local Democrats said he’d be better off staying home: His progressive brand, they argued, would hurt the party in a general election in a state dominated by Republicans. His rally ended up drawing about 1,000 attendees.

“At that point in time, we were in the midst of a very consequential gubernatorial race in the state, and Sen. Sanders coming to the state was not seen as a helping hand,” said Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist. Seawright added that he is “not here to bash Bernie Sanders … nobody wins when the family feuds,” but “I think the pathway is very difficult for him this time around.”

Booker and Sanders may be off to a head start in the state this year, but not by much. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is expected to compete with Booker for the support of the state’s black primary voters, is visiting the state Friday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has an organizing event scheduled for Wednesday.

South Carolina-based Democratic insiders said Booker, Harris, and former Vice President Joe Biden are likely early front-runners. A key factor, they said, is how successful candidates are in talking about issues that matter to black women — according to 2016 exit polls, they cast 37 percent of the primary vote here.

“In this state, black women are the ones who decide winners, for the most part, in the Democratic primary,” said state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a Democratic National Committee member.

The state NAACP will moderate an afternoon roundtablewith Sanders. Organizers said the forum’s topics will include the ongoing partial government shutdown, education and housing reform. Sanders, who has not yet said whether he will run for president, will also speak at Mount Zion AME Church in Florence on Monday and to Benedict College and Allen University students Tuesday.

Ed Rendell, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and ex-governor of Pennsylvania, said it’s important for Sanders to go to South Carolina as early and often as he can to be successful in 2020. In the state’s primary, he said, the Vermont senator needs to place in the top three or four.

“If he comes in fifth and doesn’t do well with African-Americans, the storyline will be that Sanders can’t bond with African-American voters, who are the most reliable base of Democratic voters,” he said. “So it’s more important for him to do well in South Carolina than, say, Booker, or Beto O’Rourke.”

Lawrence Moore, co-chair of the state chapter of the Sanders-founded Our Revolution, said that Sanders lost here in 2016 partly because “voters didn’t actually know him.” If he runs for president in 2020, he’ll be on much different terrain: Only 9 percent of Americans have no opinion or have never heard of him, according to a recent Gallup poll, compared to 76 percent a month before he launched his 2016 presidential campaign.

Since the 2016 primary, Sanders’ allies have also attempted to build up left-wing infrastructure in the state. Moore said the state’s Our Revolution chapter, which he founded in 2016, has more than 1,000 members who donate money or volunteer with the organization.

Several South Carolina Democrats said they’ve taken calls from Booker and Harris in recent weeks, and some have met with the potential candidates during recent stops to the state. Booker will hold private meetings with local activists and leaders again on Monday.

“This is the advice I would give to all of the candidates: Don’t just try to appeal to people who look like you or have your shared background,” said Jaime Harrison, former chair of the state Democratic Party. “Yes, you want to make sure you talk to those communities. But when you’re elected president of the United States, you’re being elected not president of black people, not president of Latinos, not president of white folks, but president of everybody.”

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The eighth and final season will feature six episodes and give the most awarded series in Emmy history a chance to win even more.USA TODAY

It apparently pays to be in Sophie Turner’s inner circle.

The actress, who plays Sansa Stark on the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones,” revealed that she may have spilled the beans on the show’s ending as fans (not so) patiently await the eighth and final season premiere in April.

“I’m so bad at keeping secrets. I don’t think people tell me things anymore because they know that I can’t keep them,” Turner, 22, told W Magazine. “I’ve already told the ending of ‘Game of Thrones’ to a few people.”

Turner didn’t disclose who she told, but added “it’s people that I know, not random people. It’s people that I know will keep the secret.” Our bets are on fiance Joe Jonas or soon-to-be sister-in-law Priyanka Chopra.

“For a couple of years, I was living with pretty greasy hair,” Turner says, thanks to producers’ requests that she not wash it starting around Season 5 of “Game of Thrones.”(Photo: Helen Sloan, HBO)

How exactly did Turner let the dragon-sized cat out of the bag? “I was like, ‘Hey, if you want to know, I’ll tell you,'” she revealed, adding that no alcohol was involved in the divulging of secrets.

Turner didn’t spoil the “GoT” ending for us commoners but did dish on other secrets, including the toll the show took on her hair.

Turner told InStyle that around Season 5, producers asked her to stop washing her hair, what with Sansa being on the run from Cersei and later Ramsay Bolton and not having the time or resources to properly cleanse or condition her long red hair.

“It was really disgusting,” she recalled. “Now I wear I a wig so I can wash my hair whenever I want, which is nice. But yes, for a couple of years I was living with pretty greasy hair.”

Even worse, she said it was “really itchy,” adding, “we would have the snow machines going so we would have little snow paper particles that would get stuck in the grease. It was disgusting.”

Sophie Turner says that “Game of Thrones” co-star Kit Harington “takes the most care of his hair out of like everyone on the show I know.”(Photo: Jeff Kravitz, FilmMagic, for HBO)

She also did serious damage to her hair, frying it as she went back and forth from her natural blonde to Sansa’s shade of auburn. In 2017, after becoming a brand ambassador for haircare line Wella, she went icy blond and started wearing wigs when the show was in production.

But now that Turner is free to make her own decisions regarding her hair color and has a team to help her take care of it, she says she may not stay blonde.

“(Co-star) Maisie (Williams) just got pink hair and it looks so good on her,” she told InStyle. “It’s kind of inspiring me to maybe change my hair up a bit. I think that maybe not this year, but next year I’m so down to even go brunette or do something fun like pink, blue, or green.”

She also dished on which cast member fusses over their hair the most.

“Kit Harington,” she shared. He probably takes the most care of his hair out of like everyone on the show I know. … Before red carpets, you would always see him scrunching the ends of his curls to make sure they’re perfect. We all (make fun of) him for that.”

When Duke lost to Syracuse, it looked like Michigan would finally ascend to No. 1. Wisconsin ended those hopes.

Instead, Tennessee has reached the sport’s apex for the first time under Rick Barnes.

The Volunteers survived a scare from Alabama to bring their winning streak to 12 games and take the top ranking in the latest Associated Press poll. Tennessee is followed by Duke, which stuck around at the No. 2 spot thanks to a 72-70 win over Virginia. Virginia, Gonzaga and Michigan round out the Top Five.

A week after no Top 10 team suffered a defeat, six dropped at least one game over the last seven days. Texas Tech had the worst fate as upset losses to Baylor and Iowa State dropped the Red Raiders six spots to No. 14.

Kansas was also upended in a trip to lowly West Virginia, which opened its Big 12 slate with five straight losses. Bob Huggins’ bunch caused 18 Jayhawks turnovers and scored the final seven points of their 65-64 triumph.

“It’s just a matter of being mentally tough enough to do the right things,” Huggins told reporters. “I’m just happy to win. This isn’t where we thought we’d be.”

The damage didn’t stop inside the Top 10. Florida State, which moved up two spots last week despite a loss to Duke, descends all the way out of the Top 25 after losing at Pitt and Boston College. The Seminoles have dropped four of their last five games since a 12-1 start.

“Anytime you start with your first three games on the road, you can get in a big hole this early in the season,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton told reporters.

Florida State’s drop was the biggest of the week. Indiana also moved out of the Top 25 following a loss to Purdue. Louisville and LSU returned to the rankings.

Lightly armed and with limited authority, UN peacekeepers are deployed to many of the world’s trouble spots.

These peacekeepers have been repeatedly targetted in Mali, now the most dangerous mission to serve in. The latest on Sunday when 10 soldiers from Chad were killed when gunmen stormed the United Nations camp.

An al-Qaeda-linked group said it carried out the attack in response to the Chadian president’s decision to revive diplomatic ties with Israel.

The UN has reported a spike in violence against its peacekeepers.

In 2017, 53 soldiers were killed, the highest number of peacekeepr deaths recorded by the UN.

So what hope is there for UN efforts to maintain peace in conflict areas around the world?

Presenter: Richelle Carey

Guests:

Joanne Adamson – Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali

Adam Day – Head of Programmes at the Centre for Policy Research at United Nations University

Severine Autesserre – Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University

An upset-filled week in men’s college basketball led to another change at the top of the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll. This time, it’s Tennessee’s turn.

Three of the four teams that were getting first-place votes a week ago sustained a loss, clearing the way for the Volunteers to become the fifth different squad to hold the No. 1 ranking this season.

Tennessee, with 30 of 32 first-place votes, claim the top spot for the first time since February of 2008. They were nearly bitten by the upset bug themselves on Saturday but were able to stave off Alabama to remain unscathed in SEC play.

Tennessee guard Jordan Bone (0) and guard Lamonte Turner react after a play during their defeat of Alabama.(Photo: Randy Sartin, USA TODAY Sports)

Duke remains No. 2, picking up a pair of first-place nods. The Blue Devils bounced back from a loss to Syracuse earlier in the week, upending previously unbeaten Virginia in a much-anticipated contest Saturday that didn’t disappoint. The Cavaliers, at No. 1 for two weeks, slip to No. 3 followed by No. 4 Gonzaga.

Michigan State, now alone atop the Big Ten standings, climbs into the top five ahead of Michigan after the Wolverines dropped two spots after suffering their first setback of the season against Wisconsin.

No. 14 Buffalo achieves a new high-water mark for the program, surpassing the No. 15 position it held earlier this season. Florida State stays in the poll at No. 23 but takes a 12-place hit after a rough week.

Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, who will be the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, said he has tasked staff to stay the course on the GOP’s investigations into the FBI. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

House Republicans were sent into the purgatory of the minority after their midterm drubbing. But they are still pressing ahead with longstanding probes into the FBI and DOJ — even though they lack much power to do anything about it.

Barely three weeks into the minority, a band of Trump loyalists says they want to revive the remnants of an investigation that formally concluded last year, which they believe shows that federal law enforcement officials weaponized their biases against President Donald Trump in 2016 while he was a candidate for president.

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Yet the group, led by Reps. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Devin Nunes (R-Calif.),won’t have a single tool at their disposal to compel testimony or demand documents, and not nearly enough manpower to keep up with the work.

“We’ve got to keep digging for the truth no matter what,” Jordan said, confirming that he is working with a handful of Republicans to continue the work of a joint effort with the Judiciary Committee that former chairmen Trey Gowdy and Bob Goodlatte pursued last year.

The Republican probes are pressing ahead as newly-empowered Democrats are beginning a wave of investigations into multiple aspects of the president and his administration.

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Collins said he has already directed several of the Judiciary Committee’s GOP staff lawyers to keep their focus on what he believes to be illegal surveillance tactics by the FBI. Such an order will create a dual role for staffers: Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are also expected to be the president’s first line of defense as the panel’s Democrats possibly pursue impeachment and other issues related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation.

Jordan, who will be the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, said he, too, has tasked staff to stay the course on the GOP’s investigations into the FBI.

Despite those directives, the minority party on an investigative committee has painfully limited authority. Unlike their Democratic counterparts, they will not have the authority to set up hearings, compel the attendance of witnesses, or use subpoenas to get their hands on relevant documents.

Instead, Republicans will only be able to write letters, ask for briefings, and request documents—with exactly half the staff as their Democratic counterparts.

Still, Collins, Jordan and Nunes remain loyal to the cause and say they’ll work to dig up further evidence to support their case.

“There’s always been a group of us focused on this, because it’s so egregious what took place,” Jordan said, despite a determination by last year’s joint GOP effort that Mueller’s final report “must be trusted.”

Jordan has centered his efforts on top DOJ official Bruce Ohr and his wife, Nellie, who worked for the firm that compiled a controversial dossier of allegations about Trump’s connections to Russia. When Republicans controlled the Judiciary and Oversight committees, they were able to force testimony from Ohr and others, including former FBI Director James Comey. They won’t have that authority with Democrats in control, severely hobbling their ability to investigate.

“Nellie and Bruce Ohr are not coming in again,” said one Democratic aide who works closely with the Oversight Committee. “It’s going to be virtually impossible to get any active agency personnel to talk to them.”

The Republican staff on the committees will also be a fraction of the size of the majority’s staff — a restriction that comes with a much smaller budget, too. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, for instance, once tapped the personal budget of then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to pay to transcribe hours of testimony from one of their hearings, the aide said.

“You’re effectively in the position where you’re fighting something with nothing,” said Kurt Bardella, who helped direct countless probes at the House Oversight Committee as a GOP aide. “It’s not like the FBI is going to be inclined to talk to them voluntarily.”

Collins rebuffed concerns about a lack of resources.

“This is not something you can just drop, especially with what we’re seeing come out,” he said, citing a recent New York Times report that the FBI opened a counterintelligence probe to find out whether Trump was secretly working on behalf of the Russians.

Democrats, of course, see the situation differently. They have suggested Congress should issue a subpoena for documents relating to Trump’s private meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing the FBI’s alleged concerns about whether Trump was a Russian agent.

For example, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in conjunction with the Intelligence Committee, has been deliberating over whether to issue a subpoena for notes and other documents that State Department interpreter Marina Gross kept while she was present for the private meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki last year. In fact, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the foreign affairs chairman, plans to revive a subcommittee for oversight and investigations.

House Republicans pursuing their own investigations do have one major asset: the president.

Democrats say they are preparing for the possibility that Jordan and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), two of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, could leverage their relationship with the president to secure documents and other information, particularly from the Justice Department. Such actions would be out of bounds, Democrats say, because the Justice Department should be independent of the president.

“Typically in the minority, the administration is somewhat collaborative,” a senior Democratic aide said. But, the aide cautioned, “that wasn’t the case with us. Every request we made was basically ignored.”

Minority investigations aren’t unprecedented, though.

Last March, the Intelligence Committee, under GOP leadership, formally closed its Russia investigation and concluded that there was no collusion between Trump associates and Russian operatives. But Democrats, then in the minority, dismissed those findings and argued that the investigation was incomplete because the committee did not interview key witnesses. They vowed to continue investigating the matter using their limited procedural tools in the minority, but were unable to gain significant ground.

Democrats have indicated they don’t plan on helping Republicans with their own investigations.

“We are out of the business of investigating the investigators,” said a Democratic aide. “If we uncover indications that something is amiss during the course of our work, we will not ignore it. But so far, we have seen only unfounded accusations and character assassination directed at patriotic, dedicated public servants.”

Rachael Bade contributed reporting.

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The NFL will reportedly consider making pass interference a reviewable play this offseason in the wake of the shocking non-call against Los Angeles Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s NFC Championship.

“It will be discussed at length along with additional fouls that coaches feel should be subject to review,” a league source told Mark Maske of the Washington Post.

Another high-ranking member of an NFL team confirmed those pending discussions, telling Maske: “And there will be discussion on [replay] review of calls and non-calls.”

So blatant was the non-call against Robey-Coleman—who should have been called for either pass interference or a hit on a defenseless receiver after he blasted Tommylee Lewis well before the pass reached him—that even he admitted it should have been a penalty.

“Ah, hell yeah, that was PI,” he said after the game, perNate Davisof USA Today.

“Came to the sideline, looked at the football gods, said, ‘Thank you,'” he continued, chuckling. “It is what it is. When you catch breaks in this league, you gotta take advantage. This league is too hard to get a break and you not take advantage of it. The door opened, the door closed—just that quick.”

The hit came on third down with 1:45 remaining in the game and the score tied at 20 apiece. Had the pass interference been called, the Saints could have burned the clock and kicked a game-winning field goal, never allowing the Rams another chance. Instead, they kicked the field goal and went up 23-20.

“They blew the call,” Saints head coach Sean Payton said, per Maske. “It’s a game-changing call … a tough one to swallow. My problem with it is, if we’re playing pickup football in the backyard, it was as obvious a call. How two guys can look at that and come up with their decision—we’ll probably never get over it. The truth is—some of these losses—one like that—it’s too bad.”

Granted, the Saints had several opportunities to shut the door on the Rams’ season from there, but couldn’t stop Jared Goff from leading L.A. to a game-tying field goal, forcing overtime. The Saints also had the ball first in overtime and could have ended the game with a touchdown, but Drew Brees threw an interception, setting up Greg Zuerlein for an incredible 57-yard field goal to end the game and send the Rams to the Super Bowl.

Judgment calls like pass interference penalties are currently non-reviewable, and at least 24 NFL owners would need to approve making such calls—and non-calls—reviewable plays. But given how blatant this particular non-call was—and that it affected one of the biggest games of the season—it could be enough to prompt changes to the replay system.

“More than 800 million people worldwide are hungry and the food that’s thrown away would be enough to feed them,” said Rodrigo Sardinha, chef at a Rio de Janeiro restaurant Gastromotiva Refectory that prepares meals for the homeless with donated food.

Brazil is one of the world’s largest suppliers of agricultural products, third only to the European Union and the United States.

In developed countries like the US, most of the waste occurs when consumers buy more food than they can consume, resulting in a lot of food being thrown away at home.

In developing countries like Brazil, a significant amount of food is lost before it even reaches supermarkets and homes.

From all the fruits and vegetables that go to waste in Brazil, around 50 percent is lost while being transported and handled.

While a lot of the waste results from poor infrastructure and inadequate planning, some food is often wasted because of a lack of training and awareness.

“The most important thing is to promote change and to respect the food,” said Deise, an alternative cooking instructor that teaches young children ways to incorporate a less wasteful cooking approach.

Some of her recipes include using typically wasted parts of produce, such as banana peels and tangerine skins.

Maria, who has been volunteering for 16 years to sort through donated food and check its viability, said: “I believe if people were more conscious, there would be less hunger. I think there is nothing better than to value all the food that passes through our hands. Because maybe another person that is hungry is lacking what we throw away.”

A diocese in Kentucky apologized on Saturday after videos emerged showing students from a Catholic boys’ high school mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial after a rally in Washington, D.C.AP

The furor over the behavior of a group of Catholic school students from Kentucky toward a Native American elder during weekend protests in Washington, D.C., took a turn Sunday with the emergence of a new video.

A viral 3-minute, 44-second clip that shows the teenagers – several of them wearing “Make America Great Again” hats – laughing, hooting and hollering while surrounding Phillips drew widespread condemnation and prompted the school and the Diocese of Covington to issue an apology and promise to take “appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.’’

The longer version of the incident is more complex, and now that it has surfaced, the rush to judge the teenagers is coming under attack.

“The honorable and tolerant students of Covington Catholic School came to DC to advocate for the unborn and to learn about our nation’s Capitol,’’ tweeted Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, whose district includes the part of Northern Kentucky where the school is located. “What they got was a brutal lesson in the unjust court of public opinion and social media mobs.’’

In this image made from video provided by the Survival Media Agency, Nick Sandmann, center left, stands in front of Native American activist Nathan Phillips on Friday at a rally in Washington, D.C.(Photo: Survival Media Agency via AP)

In a statement on Sunday, Nick Sandmann, a junior at the school who was at the center of the students’ apparent confrontation with Phillips, defended himself and his family against “outright lies” in the media. Both videos show Sandmann, who was wearing a MAGA hat, smirking and staring at Phillips for more than two minutes while standing about a foot from him.

In the 2½-page long statement, Sandmann denied he was confronting Phillips, arguing it was the activist who got in his face.

“I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation,’’ Sandmann said. “I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict.’’

Sandmann also said he and his family have received death threats. “I am being called every name in the book, including racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination of my family’s name,” he said.

The fuller video would seem to assign more blame on a small group of Black Hebrew Israelites who were in the nation’s capital for the anti-abortion March for Life.

The main speaker for the Black Hebrew Israelites, hollering without a microphone for more than an hour, first tells some demonstrating Native Americans they had their land taken away because they worshiped the wrong god.

When the student party arrives later, the speaker launches into an attack on Catholics and against President Donald Trump. He also calls the mostly white youngsters “crackers.’’

Eventually, the teenagers engage, with one of them taking his shirt off and leading the rest in a cheer. Maintaining a distance of at least 15 feet, they then launch into a chant. That’s when Phillips and his fellow demonstrators walk in, banging drums and getting between the groups, although no confrontation appeared imminent.

The students initially seem to react to the drumming in a good-natured way before their participation appears to become more derisive, highlighted by Sandmann’s apparent staredown with Phillips.

At one point, the students break into the kind of chant popular with crowds at Atlanta Braves and Florida State Seminoles games, while a few do a “tomahawk chop.’’

In the video, the Black Hebrew Israelites comment on how Phillips deescalated the situation, but also remark that he’s getting taunted.

Later, the dueling groups get physically closer, though at no point does a physical encounter develop.

Phillips, 64, an elder of the Omaha Nation, was participating in an Indigenous Peoples March that was concluding when he noticed the verbal clash in front of the Lincoln Memorial steps and decided to intervene.

“There was that moment when I realized I’ve put myself between beast and prey,’’ Phillips told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. “These young men were beastly and these old black individuals was their prey, and I stood in between them and so they needed their pounds of flesh and they were looking at me for that.’’

Phillips said he became frightened as the throng of teenagers grew around him, adding that they yelled at him to “Go back to the reservation’’ and broke into chants of “Build that wall.’’ He also questioned why chaperones did not get involved.

Part of his fear, Phillips said, arose from what he perceived as a “mob mentality’’ in the boys.

“It was ugly, what these kids were involved in,’’ he said. “It was racism. It was hatred. It was scary.’’

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